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This is a weekly column from freelancer Rowan Kaiser, which focuses on "Western" role-playing games: their stories, their histories, their mechanics, their insanity, and their inanity.

In theory, fantasy strategy games should be my favorite kinds of games. I am certainly a fan of the fantasy genre generally, and role-playing games and strategy games are my favorite game genres. Fantasy strategy games combine all of those elements, so they should be a guaranteed success, right? And yet they're not my favorite games. I enjoy them, certainly, but if I were making a list of my all-time favorites, they wouldn't show up toward the top. Examining the subgenre as a whole makes me realize that combining RPGs and strategy games is part of the problem. Too many good things doesn't necessarily lead to great things.

Elemental: War Of Magic was supposed to be the ultimate fantasy strategy game. It was supposed to combine the best of RPGs with the best of strategy games with an impressive fantasy setting. Ultimately it was crushed under the weight of its own ideas and egos, went through a disastrous development cycle and launched as a broken disappointment.

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elemental-fallen-enchantressOpinionStardockWestern-RPGsFri, 22 Feb 2013 19:00:00 -050011|20461835http://www.joystiq.com/2012/08/16/stardock-alleges-former-marketing-manager-impaired-elemental-wa/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Joystiq&ncid=rss_semi
http://www.joystiq.com/2012/08/16/stardock-alleges-former-marketing-manager-impaired-elemental-wa/http://www.joystiq.com/2012/08/16/stardock-alleges-former-marketing-manager-impaired-elemental-wa/?utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Joystiq#commentsMichigan-based developer Stardock is suing its ex-marketing manager Alexandra Miseta for over $1 million in damages, alleging actions she made during her employment impaired the quality of Elemental: War of Magic.

According to documents filed with a Michigan Eastern District Court on July 30, 2012, Stardock claims that when Miseta resigned her position without notice prior to the Elemental's launch, she destroyed and/or stole promotional materials, trade show information, and analytics data that the developer says was vital to supporting the game's release. The dev claims these acts occurred three weeks before the game's release. Stardock also alleges that Miseta, who is currently employed as accounts director at Chevrolet, refused to return a company-issued laptop and running undisclosed side businesses during work hours at the developer.

Panned by reviewers when it launched in 2010, Elemental: War of Magic was riddled with bugs, a complicated interface, and a host of other problems. Currently the game's average review score sits at 53 on Metacritic.

Following its launch, company CEO Brad Wardell said Elemental's issues stemmed from the disorganized nature of the developer. "If someone had an idea, we'd say 'Oh sure, go ahead! Throw that in!,'" Wardell explained during a GDC 2011 panel called 'Failure Workshop.' In a statement made in September 2010, Wardell placed blame for the project's failure on the entire Stardock staff, claiming a fair share of responsibility himself claiming that he lost objectivity acting as a programmer and the executive in charge of deciding when the game was ready to ship.